BRP stands for Balance Responsible Party, while BSP stands for Balance Service Provider. Both terms refer to the role an organization plays in the electricity market, but there is an important difference between the two.

A BRP is responsible for balancing its own production, consumption, and/or trade in electricity. It is the party responsible for fulfilling its obligations regarding the balancing of the electricity network. This means that the BRP must inform the government or the grid operator about the expected production, consumption, and trade of electricity in order to maintain the balance of the network.

If an imbalance occurs in the Netherlands or Belgium, TenneT will send resp. Elia sends a signal to the balancing service providers (BSP) who then activate balancing energy to restore the system balance.

A BRP is financially responsible for all imbalances that occur in its portfolio of connections. BRPs have the option to correct their own imbalance before the imbalance settlement period expires (15 minutes), without financial consequences. They can do this, for example, by changing the load or production behind their allocation points or by concluding a trade agreement with another BRP.

On the other hand, a BSP is a party that offers balancing services, such as supplying reserve power or purchasing imbalanced power from BRPs. BSPs can also trade and/or produce electricity, but are not responsible for balancing the electricity network.

In essence, the BRP is the party responsible for the balance on the electricity network and the BSP is the party that provides the means to maintain this balance.